THE 1841 PENNY RED

1841 1d Red

Now there’s a stamp.   The 1841 1d Red, is often much more interesting,    Of the 1d Black plates, 7 of plates were also used to print the 1d Reds.  Beyond, black plate 11, there were a further 165 different plates.   The main reason, being, the stamp was used over many years, and as such, plates had to be re done to cope with demand.

In days gone by, collectors would ;play with’ 1d reds, as they were available very cheaply, not so nowadays.  The 1d red of course was issued, to minimise stamps  being reused, to cheat the Royal Mail, out of revenue.  The Red and Black cancels on 1d Blacks, could in, certain circumstances, could be difficult to notice, if the stamp had been used previously, especially on busy days at the post office.

The Black cancel on the red stamp, was very clear, and post offices were advised to stop using red ink, only black, but some did use red ink for a while to cancel the red stamps.   1d reds with red cancels are very scarce.